APPropriate Behaviour
The book about all the things software writers do that aren't writing software.
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Author Archives: Graham
Regaining your identity
In my last post, losing your identity, I pointed out an annoying problem with the Sparkle update framework, in that if you lose your private key you can no longer post any updates. Using code signing identities would offer a … Continue reading
Posted in Codesign, Crypto, PCAS, Updates
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Losing your identity
Developers make use of cryptographic signatures in multiple places in the software lifecycle. No iPad or iPhone application may be distributed without having been signed by the developer. Mac developers who sign their applications get to annoy their customers much … Continue reading
Security flaw liability
The Register recently ran an opinion piece called Don’t blame Willy the Mailboy for software security flaws. The article is a reaction to the following excerpt from a SANS sample application security procurement contract: No Malicious Code Developer warrants that … Continue reading
Posted in Malware, Policy, Responsibility, Vulnerability
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One Window that is good for Mac security
I realise now that I didn’t cover this when it happened back at the beginning of March, but that not everyone in either the Apple world nor the general infosec community is aware of it. Nearly one month ago, Apple … Continue reading
Posted in AAPL
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Why do we annoy our users?
I assume that, with my audience being mainly Mac users, you are not familiar with Microsoft Security Assessment Tool, or MSAT. It’s basically a free tool for CIOs, CSOs and the like to perform security analyses. It presents two questionnaires, … Continue reading
Posted in brute-force, password, tool-support
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So it’s not just the Department of Homeland Security, then
What is it about government security agencies and, well, security? The UK Intelligence and Security Committee has just published its Annual Report 2008-2009 (pdf, because if there’s one application we all trust, it’s Adobe Reader), detailing financial and policy issues … Continue reading
Posted in Data Leakage, government, Policy
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Integrating SSH with the keychain on Snow Leopard
Not much movement has occurred on projects like SSHKeychain.app or SSHAgent.app in the last couple of years. The reason is that it’s not necessary to use them these days; you can get all of the convenience of keychain-stored SSH passphrases … Continue reading
Posted in Encryption, Keychain, Mac, ssh
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Pre-order professional Mac security books!
You too can own a piece of the magic. Professional Cocoa Application Security and Enterprise Mac: Mac OS X Snow Leopard Security are both already in pre-order; use the Amazon affiliate links below if you want to give me a … Continue reading
Posted in PCAS
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Look what the feds left behind…
So what conference was on in this auditorium before NSConference? Well, why don’t we just read the documents they left behind? Ooops. While there’s nothing at higher clearance than Unrestricted inside, all of the content is marked internal eyes only … Continue reading
Posted in Data Leakage, government, NSConf, Policy, Privacy
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More NSConf code signing fun
I’ll be talking at the US NSConference on Tuesday, with an extended version of my talk on code signing. I’ll cover how it works, what it does, what it doesn’t do, and what it should do. Importantly, there are still … Continue reading
